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Navy Student Fails Test, Must Pay Full Tuition[$127K]
WJZ ^ | 18 Jan 2007 | AP

Posted on 01/19/2007 6:17:18 AM PST by FLOutdoorsman

A Naval Academy midshipman who was expelled after he failed a running test will have to pay the Navy for the cost of his education.

Baltimore County resident Frank Shannon had asked that the 127-thousand dollar bill be waived. But a senior Navy official rejected his appeal this month, saying the academy provided Shannon with ample opportunity to meet its minimum fitness standards.

Shannon failed 12 of 18 fitness tests, and failed in a series of attempts to run a mile-and-a-half in 10 minutes and 30 seconds. In his final test, he was 20 seconds short. He was expelled just weeks before graduation.

Shannon is hoping a member of Congress will intervene. Aides to Senator Mikulski suggested he apply for readmission to the academy, but Shannon is currently married and would first have to divorce his wife before applying.


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: academy; fatbody; naval; navy; tuition
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To: FLOutdoorsman

Back in Army Basic in '72, I think it was 8 minutes for a mile.. But that's in fatiques and boots..


41 posted on 01/19/2007 6:39:03 AM PST by tje
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To: NOLA_homebrewer
yep, '89 grad here. The last class to have a real plebe year....

Ughhh . . . the class of '89 . . . a class of knuckledraggers . . .


42 posted on 01/19/2007 6:39:36 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: FLOutdoorsman
Back in the late 80s we had a female LT, that had just graduated from the Point, she arrived in Germany, and after too many nights consuming beer and brats, packed on the pounds, was given 6 months to loose and didn't, they canned her, but since she didn't finish her military commitment, she had to pay back the military for her education at West Point.

These kids know the deal going into any of the academies. "We give you an education, you give us 4 years of your life."
43 posted on 01/19/2007 6:40:21 AM PST by SAMS ("I may look harmless, but I raised a U.S. MARINE!" Army Wife & Marine Mom)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

Where are the missing pieces to this story?? The guy has gone through the training and no one noticed that he couldn't do it? He WAS an athlete before he entered the academy. I'm guessing he's a HUGE guy and lacks stamina.


44 posted on 01/19/2007 6:40:29 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: mfnorman

That a regular Navy PRT, the academy has different tests and requirements. Hopefully since I went there, they have become more laigned with the regular Navy instead of some of the wierd stuff they used to make us do.


45 posted on 01/19/2007 6:40:53 AM PST by NOLA_homebrewer
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To: Mr. Lucky
Don't you figure the story is based wholly upon this guy's side of the story alone; that he was probably an all around crumb-dumb unfit for commission as a Naval officer or an officer of Marines?

I dunno . . . a former enlisted nuke who put in time at NAPS and managed a 2.8 in EE? I'd say that except for being slow as molasses, he's probably a real solid officer candidate.

46 posted on 01/19/2007 6:41:47 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

BRACE UP! MENU FOR NOON MEAL, GO!


47 posted on 01/19/2007 6:42:02 AM PST by NOLA_homebrewer
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To: RetiredArmy

This isn't an IRS issue. It has nothing to do with income taxes. This would be a civil case. Did he pass all his classes? if so, then they have to award him the degree.

The service he agreed to provide is the payment for that degree. If he is unable to perform, then they have the right to go after him... but they still need to award him his degree.


48 posted on 01/19/2007 6:42:25 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe (Say "NO" to the Trans-Texas Corridor)
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To: FLOutdoorsman
I walk at about 14 minutes per mile. Somebody that practices a little should be able to run 1.5 miles in 10.5 minutes.

All other issues aside, doesn't anybody think that $127,000 is quite a lot for tuition costs? I know, this is the navel academy, but it's universal that our institutes of "higher education" are way more expensive than their apparent costs indicate.

49 posted on 01/19/2007 6:43:16 AM PST by meyer (Bring back the Contract with America and you'll bring back the Republican majority.)
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To: rabidralph
While I applaud the academy for getting tough with washouts, recent history does not show failed Mids having to repay their tuition. If y'all remember the electrical engineering cheating scandal from the early 90s and numerous other little scandals since then, this is the first I've heard of someone having to pay. Anybody have any other info?

If you flunk out or leave voluntarily or involuntarily during your first two years then you don't have any obligation. After that you either do 2 to 4 years enlisted service or you pay back the cost of tuition. Sounds like this guy passed on the enlisted service but is now shocked, shocked I tell you, that he has to pay Uncle Sam back for his education.

50 posted on 01/19/2007 6:43:33 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: meyer
All other issues aside, doesn't anybody think that $127,000 is quite a lot for tuition costs? I know, this is the navel academy, but it's universal that our institutes of "higher education" are way more expensive than their apparent costs indicate.

You priced Harvard or Yale lately? Heck, room and board for 4 years at a decent state University will set you back close to $50,000.

51 posted on 01/19/2007 6:44:46 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: NOLA_homebrewer
!!!!!!

If you were anywhere near 5th co., you might have lit me up exactly like that.

52 posted on 01/19/2007 6:45:17 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Tax-chick

One wonders what all the mainstreamed kids with all kinds of physical pboblems but great self esteem will have with this incident.


53 posted on 01/19/2007 6:45:26 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. .... It's spit on a lefty day.)
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To: Tax-chick

You must have a intravenous Speed drip to have the energy needed to do all that you do. I move like a sloth and it exhausts me.


54 posted on 01/19/2007 6:45:41 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
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To: ContemptofCourt

"As an athlete, Shannon would not have been required to meet the academy's distance-run requirement until just before graduation."

Ah yes, this is how some people can play four years of varsity sports and be declared "not physically qualified" for a commission and then go supply corps. Napoleon McCallum and David Robinson come to mind (Robinson was DQ'd due to his height and not any lack of physical fitness)


55 posted on 01/19/2007 6:46:39 AM PST by NOLA_homebrewer
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To: FLOutdoorsman

Are they doing it with 40# packs, or something?

That's not much of a run. I did twice the distance in twice the time, in my normal run back in college, and I neither was nor am much of an athlete.


56 posted on 01/19/2007 6:46:56 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost
And did I read correctly---this guy up and got married after he was separated from the Academy? Huh?

Obviously he failed 12 of 18 fitness tests...and one common sense quiz.

Seriously, I wonder if he planned the marriage and decided he didn't want to put up with the separation so he booted the physical requirements?

57 posted on 01/19/2007 6:46:58 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: FLOutdoorsman

I suppose if the Navy outlined their policy ahead of time, he has to live by it. But I really find this surprising. Does every student who washes out of one of the military academies have to repay tuition? If so, that could have quite a chilling effect. Do NCAA recruits have to repay tuition if an injury prevents them from playing? I know we're talking about apples and oranges here, but I'm just curious.


58 posted on 01/19/2007 6:46:59 AM PST by soccermom
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To: ContemptofCourt

So he fails the running test and gets a free education with no obligation as a reward???? That is crazy and an insult to all those who passed the running and all the classes. Sounds like a spoiled athlete to me. He had to pay for his education through an obligation to the Navy or by paying tuition. He had a choice.


59 posted on 01/19/2007 6:47:13 AM PST by Martins kid
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To: FLOutdoorsman

The fitness standards are really not that high. 18 fricking tries? Geez louise!


60 posted on 01/19/2007 6:47:17 AM PST by Fierce Allegiance ("Campers laugh at clowns behind closed doors.")
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